What would you do? 1st home, duplex house hack with zero down

[Andrew Slezak]

Hey y’all,

I bought my first house hack in Chattanooga, and I'm enjoying the process so far. It's a duplex that I got for 0 down. Long story short, I originally wanted to get the FHA zero down where the state does a 2nd mortgage to give you 3.5% down at 3.5% interest. However, when it was time to pull the trigger THEN my mortgage company tells me I no longer qualified due to the income from the property. So they changed the loan to 3.5% down on $169k at 5.2% interest with a stipulation that the down payment is forgiven in 3 years if I have no late payments. Easy $6k in equity, right? But if I refinance or sell, then I owe that $6k. My mortgage is $1281 a month, and currently rent out the other unit for $900 a month. I know I overpaid, but it beats the hell out of $950 a month and another year long lease in an apartment and I NEEDED a spot quick bf my gf killed me in her studio apartment we shared for 2.5 months.

What I’m wondering is if it’ll be worth it to refinance with today’s low rates at 2.9% and lose the $6k on the equity?

It’ll help me cash flow an extra $200 a month. With that $200 I can either save it for my next property, or just pay it as extra towards my mortgage and have $6k in equity in 3 years.

[Kelly Rastatter]

There's a few more things to consider but one is that you will also have costs associated with closing the new loan AND you will need to pay the difference between what you have financed currently (100% - principal paydown) and what you are able to refinance (not 100%). How long ago did you purchase? I would not forfeit that down payment assistance forgiveness unless I had to.